Abstract. In the western Mediterranean Sea, the RADMED monitoring
programme is already conducting several of the evaluations required
under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MFSD) along the Spanish
Mediterranean coast. The different aspects of the ecosystem that are
regularly sampled under this monitoring programme are the physical
environment and the chemical and biological variables of the water
column, together with the planktonic communities, biomass and structure.
Moreover, determinations of some anthropogenic stressors on the marine
environment, such as contaminants and microplastics, are under development.

Data are managed and stored at the Instituto Español de Oceanografía
(IEO) Data Centre that works under the SeaDataNet infrastructure, and
are also stored in the IBAMar database. In combination with remote
sensing data, they are used to address open questions on the ecosystems
in the western Mediterranean Sea.

Please read the corrigendum first before accessing the article.

http://www.ocean-sci.net/11/897/2015/os-11-897-2015-corrigendum.pdf

http://www.ocean-sci.net/11/897/2015/os-11-897-2015.pdf

The RADMED monitoring programme as a tool for MSFD implementation: towards an ecosystem-based approach